Melancholic Beauty
by lovefool911
Summary: IzzieMark. My first fanfic. She may be melancholic beauty at it's best but she also had a glimmer of hope and joy in her eyes that Mark found to be absolutely captivating.
1. Joy

(my first fanfic, i love mark/izzie.)

I do not own Grey's Anatomy.

**I believe.**

**I believe.**

**I believe.**

The words echoed in her ears, over and over again. She believed it would all be okay. Meredeth would be fine. People don't always die. People live. Meredeth would live. This is what she was thinking as she stood looking through the small window in the door to Dr. Shepard and Dr. Sloan.

Shepard looked up and met her eyes. She saw the hurt, the vulnerability. But mostly she saw fear. He was scared. Well everyone was. But especially him. She could tell. Over the past few weeks she'd become really close with the resident everyone called 'McDreamy'. When Meredeth would snore he'd always be in the living room, laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. When she couldn't sleep she'd sit in front of the fridge. At some point they would find each other, either she'd go over and sit at the edge of the couch or he'd come and sit next to her and stare at the fridge. They would talk about nothing about everything. It was nice she decided. She needed someone to confide in. George was always with Callie, Meredeth was always with Shepard. Alex was currently following Addison around. She was alone.

They seemed to develop a quick friendship, he always knew when to take the food away from her and she always knew when to just sit and be there for him and not say anything at all. This was one of those times. She opened the door, she felt Alex grab her arm. She just looked back at him and something in her eyes must have made him understand because he just nodded and released her arm. She walked through the door her head held high, she nudged Dr. Sloan on the leg, he moved, and she took a seat between the two doctors. She just sat there glassy eyed. Repeating those words in her head.

**I believe.**

**I believe.**

**I believe.**

He looked to his left at the blond intern. Izzie Stevens. She looked only forward, her eyes fixed on something he couldn't see. Her eyelids never moved, never blinked. Her eyes didn't even move, just stayed fixed. But it seemed as though she was searching. For what, he couldn't tell.

When he first saw her he thought she was the epitome of melancholic beauty. She had a body that could stop time, sure. Anybody else would just describe her as hot. But her eyes conveyed something different. Her eyes where full of so much hurt. Hurt she always tried to mask with nonsensical ramblings or witty remarks. She could have one hell of a silver tongue at times.

Melancholic beauty. Is that why she was here? Because she was the only one in this hospital who could understand what Shepard was going through. From what he'd heard of her she'd been through the same situation herself. Denny something-or- another, the love of her life, had died after he had proposed to her. Everyone may think he's just a jackass with no heart but his heart, however tiny it may be, breaks every time he looks at her and thinks about all the pain she's been through. And he hasn't even said more that 10 words to her.

He'd saw a new side of her today though. Strength. She had drilled into a guys head for chrissake. And she defiantly does well under pressure. Now that he thought about it Izzie Stevens was amazing. She didn't take any of his bullshit that girls usually fell at his feet with, she wouldn't be his personal slave even though he could get her fired, and she kept her head held high at all times.

He looked over a Derek who had his head leaning slightly against Izzie's shoulder, like his neck couldn't hold it up anymore and silent tears came down his face. For a second he thought they had something sexual together. But when he took a closer look it was more like a brother and sister or like they were best friends. She was his shoulder to cry on and heaven knows he needs one. His eyes focused back on Izzie to find that she was looking at her hands. He looked at her hands also. That's when he noticed she had a deep cut on the palm of her right hand and was bleeding slightly. She must have felt his eyes on her because she said,

"I cut it on a part of the car when I was trying to gauze up his leg." It didn't look too bad, but he knew anything on your palm was bad, the skin wasn't very thick there and when ever she flexed her fingers she probably just re-opened the wound.

"I'll be right back." He whispered and then walked down the hall to the nearest supply closet to get some gauze and needle and thread if she needed stitches. When he started to walk back down the hall he saw Dr. Burke standing above Derek and Izzie. He froze waiting for any sign that something good had happened. He saw Izzie start to tremble slightly and tears fall down her face. But then Derek smiled and hugged her and stood up hugged Burke and walked into the room. She was alive. He let out a huge breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in and walked towards Izzie who was currently trying to stand up. As he came closer he saw tears but also the most beautiful smile upon her face. When he came to be standing right next to her she launched herself into his arms. It took him by surprise and he almost fell over. But he found balance and hugged her right back. When she released him he realized he wanted her back in his arms. But then he saw the huge smile on her face and her jumping up and down in pure joy.

"She's alive. She's alive. She's alive!" Her smile must've been contagious because Mark found himself smiling with her and shaking his head ever so slightly at her goofiness. She may be melancholic beauty at it's best but she also had a glimmer of hope and joy in her eyes that Mark found to be absolutely captivating.


	2. Thoughts and Perfection

What does it mean to be alive? The doctor in her told her 'alive' was just a term for a steady heart rate and still breathing. But standing in Meredeth's hospital room surrounded by her friends, balloons, and warm laughter she knew alive was more than just breathing.

It amazed her how a once dreadful and terrible situation could make a complete 180 with the help of a few doctors. She was glad she chose this profession. She liked changing things, dreadful things, and make them better.

She sat in the corner of the room. Shepard would come over and talk to her every now and then, telling her how happy he was. It was nice to see him happy. He looked taller too, not literally. But like the weight had been lifted off his shoulders. And she was happy too. Not happy happy, like smiling so much your face hurts, more like comfortable again. She always felt sick when she was sad. It was nice to be in that comfortable space again.

She looked at the others in the room. Christina was with Burke, Addison was with Alex being careful not to touch him, that made Izzie smile. Bailey and the Chief where standing at the foot of the bed looking at Meredeth as if she was there child that had made a safe recovery. And Shepard, Shepard was just sitting in a chair running his fingers through her hair, a simple gesture but full of so much love. He was just cherishing every moment he had with her. It was beautiful in all it's simplicity. Callie and George where in the corner opposite her near a fake plant making out ever so slightly, which on some level grossed her out, yet her smile stayed. Somebody was missing though. She couldn't put her finger on it. Then all of the sudden somebody took her hand.

"I never did stitch this up for you." Dr. Sloan said as he gently pulled Izzie's hand from it's current position and rested it on his lap palm up. She had jumped ever so slightly when he'd touched her but he didn't know why, he'd been sitting there for about a minute just watching her watch everyone else. He liked watching her facial expression change with each new person she saw.

What surprised him the most was when she smiled at Karev and Addison. Looking at them made him feel sort of sick. Sure he was over Addison. Or at least that's what he keeps telling himself. But when he thought about it he really had nothing to get over, she was just using him, or maybe he was just using her. Either way it was just easier not to dig deeper into the saga that was Mark and Addison.

"You really don't need to do that, it's fine." the blond next to him argued trying to take her hand away but he just kept holding it.

"No I really think I do," He began to softly trace the wound with his finger, "See that?" he said pointing to a deeper curve in the now rust colored cut.

"Yea, the blood is coagulating, it's just starting to form a scab..." She was finding it hard to speak as he run his finger back and forth on her palm.

"See that's what you think, this may hurt a little." He said before taking and alcohol swab and slowly peeling away the scab, beneath it was a nasty yellow puss. _Way to ruin the moment..._ he thought.

"Ew. That's sort of nasty." She replied sheepishly.

"Nasty and yet such a lovely sign of infection Dr. Stevens, so I think it's best you let me stitch it up, Doctors orders." He smirked at her.

"Fine."

"Good intern." He cooed. He was meticulous with stitching it up wanting to spend as much time as possible with her. He was interested about what made her tick, what was going on inside that head of hers. Whenever he caught a glimpse of her she was usually mulling over something, calculating. He wondered if there was ever a time when she just stopped analyzing. He noticed a stitch was too spaced out so he went back and did it again.

"Do you always have to do everything perfectly?" she asked breaking the silence.

"I strive for perfection Stevens, so should you." he said mater-of-factly.

"Is that the same with _every_ aspect in your life?" There was something odd about the way she said 'everything'. He looked up at her to find her looking at him. A small blush found its way to her cheeks and she resumed looking at the others in the room. He just grinned.

"Are you referring to my taste in women, Dr. Stevens?" he prodded the now full on blushing intern.

"No! What would make you say that?" she looked at him as if he had two heads, he was very impressed with her acting skills.

"Well if you were, I do enjoy members of the opposite sex that are capable or even perfect in _every _aspect." he said with a wriggle of the eyebrows. Any other women would have flirted right back and fluttered her eye lashes in such a way, but not Isobel Stevens. No instead she just studied him for a moment and when he let her hand out of his grasp, finished with the stitches. She replied,

"Isn't perfection in itself a flaw?" she sat for a second and then walked towards Shepard placing a hand on his and gave her congrats and excuse for leaving and with a smile towards Alex and Addison and a small wave to George and Callie, walked out the door. The entire time his eyes were glued on her. Mulling over, calculating her last words.


End file.
